Providing users of computers with interesting and engaging tools for presenting content stored upon a computer has become increasingly important as the information stored in computing environments has grown and diversified. For example, millions of families now use digital cameras to snap hundreds of images each year. These images are often stored on a computer, and users rely on various computerized utilities to display and interact with their photos.
In order to present these photos and other digital images, a variety of user interfaces and presentation techniques are currently commercially available. For example, Microsoft Corporation's 2002 release of Windows® XP Media Center Edition includes a feature that presents images in a slideshow. To transition between digital images, this version of Windows® XP provides two options. The first is a transition without any effects. This presentation is very similar to a traditional, non-computerized slide projector; the images are simply presented one after another. The second option provides for a softer transition between the images. The first image slowly disappears as a second image is blended into view. Another commercially available slideshow is provided by Apple Corporation's iPhoto. iPhoto offers a set of pre-determined transition animations from which a user can choose the direction of movement and the speed of the transition from one image to another. After a user has dictated which effects are desired, the application presents a slide show in accordance with the user's directions.
While these slideshows provide functional presentations of digital images, they include only predictable and preset presentations of the images. They do not create a show with effects and animations selected to provide an engaging user experience. Accordingly there is a need for improved techniques for the presentation of digital images.